System and method for maximizing capacity of an agent in a contact center by omni session handling

ABSTRACT

A computerized-method for operating an Omni Session Handling (OSH) engine for proactive OSH to determine that an outreach is required, according to one or more predefined requirements, to maximize capacity of an agent in a contact center by omni session handling, is provided herein. The computerized-method may retrieve one or more interactions from a Customer-Relations-Management database based on a requirement for an outreach to be stored in a queue of proactive contacts. The computer-implemented method may further allocate a queue of one or more interactions to an agent or to a team of agents and then present the agent with a digital preview of an interaction from the queue of one or more interactions for consideration via a display unit, while the agent is handling one or more interactions. The computer-implemented method may further receive from the agent a decision upon review of the presented digital preview of the interaction.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority as a continuation from application Ser.No. 16/648,443 dated Apr. 13, 2020 which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 16,532/501, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,666,806 dated Aug.8, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of systems that manage therouting of contacts in a contact center and systems that control theagent handling of interactions in an Omni Session Handling (OSH)environment and allow preview of information related to a potentialcontact before handling the interaction.

BACKGROUND

Many organizations and businesses provide service to their customers viaa contact center. In the contact center, agents equipped with a computerthat is linked to the organization's internal and external networkhandle a large volume of inbound and outbound interactions withcustomers. The agents may work locally in the contact center or remotelyvia connection to the contact center systems. Some contact centers areoperating as an in-house department and some contact centers are hiredby the organizations and being operated by a third-party agency fordifferent reasons such as lowering organizations expenses on customerservice.

Nowadays, with the available variety of communication channels, manycontact centers foster these varied types of communication channels toprovide service to customers such as telephone calls, faxes, emails,chat, social media, co-browsing, SMS (text) messages and MMS messages.The services may be provided via inbound interactions or outboundinteractions.

Outbound interactions are commonly initiated by the organization forbilling, collections, reservations management, pre-admission and thelike. In some industries such as the healthcare industry or thehospitality industry, the customer is being contacted before arriving atthe premises. For example, in the healthcare industry, a patient may bereached out by an agent in the contact center in a process ofpre-admission to a medical procedure. In another example, in thehospitality industry, a guest may be reached out by an agent in thecontact center before arriving to a reserved vacation at the hotel orresort. Yet, in other industries, interactions are performed proactivelyfor customers retention purposes.

To indicate to the agent in the contact center that a customer should beapproached, the agent is presented with a digital preview of the contactwhich includes all the necessary details regarding the required outreachand pre-determined pending media desired for the interaction. Forexample, a customer may be 30 days late in making payment to theorganization and may be identified by the Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) system as needing to be contacted in order to bring theaccount current. An agent in the contact center may be presented with adigital preview of the contact and the required payment along with apreferred media which the agent should use to contact the customer.

Currently systems tie the digital preview of the contact directly to thepre-determined pending media that is desired for the interaction withthe customer. Thus, agents are refrained from providing service to othercustomers while they review the information related to the potentialcontact. For example, in case the pre-determined pending media desiredfor the interaction is a voice call, the agent is reserved for thepending voice call while the preview is taking place, which ispreventing the agent from being available for other interactions viaother communication channels. However, in most cases, many of thesepreview interactions end with the agent determining that the interactionshould be handled later and not immediately.

With many contact centers engaging in multiple session handling, i.e.Omni Session Handling (OSH), this dedicated experience of the agent tothe digital preview interaction, may prevent higher priority work frombeing routed to the agent while the agent is previewing a possibleinteraction and also may withhold maximizing agent's capacity and mayinterfere with established service-level agreement (SLA) goals.Therefore, the review period of the interaction should not be treatedthe same as a live interaction with the customer and the agent should beavailable for other interactions during the digital preview.

Currently, there is no technical solution which allows an agent topreview contacts and groom the agent's personal preview contacts queuewhile working on other active interactions calls (i.e. inbound oroutbound) or any other active interactions via other communicationchannels.

With increasing regulation related to customer service, more companiesare relying on digital preview to deliver a more targeted callingeffort. Therefore, there is a need for a technological solution thatwill allow a digital preview of a contact to be delivered concurrentlywith other active interactions such that the agent will be available forhandling higher priority voice calls or other interactions.

Furthermore, there is a need for a technological solution that will notrestrict the agent to the preview contact until the agent has chosen tointeract with the preview contact or even until the contact responds,thus having the contact center efficiently utilizing the agent'scapacity.

SUMMARY

There is thus provided, a computer-based technology improvement formaximizing capacity of an agent in a contact center by omni sessionhandling. The computerized-method comprising: retrieving one or moreinteractions from a Customer Relations Management (CRM) database basedon a requirement for an outreach to be stored in a queue of proactivecontacts; allocating a queue of one or more interactions out of theretrieved one or more interactions to an agent or to a team of agents;presenting the agent or an agent in the team of agents with a digitalpreview of an interaction from the queue of one or more interactions forconsideration via a display unit, while the agent is handling one ormore interactions; and receiving from the agent a decision upon reviewof the presented digital preview of the interaction. At least onecontact is associate to the interactions.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the allocating is based on at least one of: predetermined setof rules, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any combinationthereof.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the allocating of the queue of one or more interactions isbased on correlation between preconfigured skills and preferences of theagent or the team of agents and one or more predefined criteria whichare required to handle the interaction.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising, receiving one ormore notes from the agent to record: (i) one or more decision reasoning;or (ii) review process; or (iii) observations, or any combinationthereof.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the received decision is to accept the interaction.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising receiving from theagent: (i) a communication channel type to perform the acceptedinteraction; and (ii) a priority relative to other pending interactionsto determine a priority in a personal queue of the agent or in a queueof a team of agents.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the communication channel type is selected from: an outboundphone call, a window for composing an email, a chat, an SMS textmessage, a pre-packaged fax document, a social messaging or any othermedia content or connection type.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising retrieving aninteraction from the personal queue of the agent or in a queue of a teamof agents and checking the amount of concurrent sessions via thereceived communication channel type.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type is less than a predefined amount ofconcurrent sessions, the computerized-method further comprisingconducting an attempt to establish a session with a contact that isassociated to the accepted interaction and the agent or an agent in theteam of agents, via the received communication channel type andaccording to the received priority.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the contact responds via a communication channel typeother than the received communication channel type, thecomputerized-method further comprising enabling the session via theother communication channel type.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type is less than a predefined amount ofconcurrent sessions, the computerized-method further comprisingconducting an attempt to establish a session with a contact that isassociated to the accepted interaction and the agent or an agent in theteam of agents, via the received communication channel type andaccording to the received priority.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type is equal or more than a predefined amount ofconcurrent sessions, the computerized-method further comprising delayingthe interaction for a specified amount of time.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the contact responds via a communication channel typeother than the received communication channel type, thecomputerized-method further comprising enabling the session via theother communication channel type.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising engaging the agentwith the contact only when a response is received from the contact.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the received decision is to reject the interaction.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising receiving arequest from the agent to transfer the interaction to a queue ofinteractions of another agent or to a queue of another team of agents ora queue of a predefined criteria or any other queue of interactions.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising receiving arequest from the agent to reschedule the rejected interaction for aspecified amount of time or until a specified date and time and storingthe interaction in the database.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising receiving afinalize request from the agent which will prevent further actions.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, the computerized-method further comprising conducting anattempt to establish a session with a contact that is associated to therescheduled rejected interaction at the specified date and time, and theagent or an agent in the team of agents.

Furthermore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, when the attempt is unsuccessful at establishing a sessionwith the contact that is associated to the interaction, thecomputerized-method further comprising, receiving from the agent arequest to: (i) reschedule the interaction or to finalize which willprevent further actions; (ii) alter the communication channel type;(iii) queue the interaction in the personal queue of the agent or in thequeue of the team of agents.

According to some embodiments, when the attempt is unsuccessful atestablishing a session with the contact that is associated to theinteraction, the computerized-method further comprising, receiving fromthe agent one or more notes related to the unsuccessful attempt.

There is further provided, a computerized-system for maximizing capacityof an agent in a contact center by omni session handling. Thecomputerized-system comprising: a display unit; and a processorconfigured to: (i) retrieve one or more interactions from a CustomerRelations Management (CRM) database based on a requirement for anoutreach to be stored in a queue of proactive contacts; (ii) allocate aqueue of one or more interactions out of the retrieved one or moreinteractions to an agent or to a team of agents; (iii) present the agentor an agent in the team of agents with a digital preview of aninteraction from the queue of one or more interactions for considerationvia a display unit, while the agent is handling one or moreinteractions; and (iv) receive from the agent a decision upon review ofthe presented digital preview of the interaction. wherein at least onecontact is associate to the interactions; and a memory to store thequeue of proactive contacts and the queue of one or more interactions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order for the present disclosure, to be better understood and for itspractical applications to be appreciated, the following Figures areprovided and referenced hereafter. It should be noted that the Figuresare given as examples only and in no way limit the scope of thedisclosure. Like components are denoted by like reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a high-level flow diagram illustrating operations performed byan Omni Session Handling (OSH) engine, in accordance with someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is flow-chart depicting a computerized-method for maximizingcapacity of an agent in a contact center by Omni Session Handling, inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a system for OSH, in accordance withsome embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure.However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the artthat the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, modules,units and/or circuits have not been described in detail so as not toobscure the disclosure.

Although embodiments of the disclosure are not limited in this regard,discussions utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) ofa computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or otherelectronic computing device, that manipulates and/or transforms datarepresented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within thecomputer's registers and/or memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the computer's registersand/or memories or other information non-transitory storage medium(e.g., a memory) that may store instructions to perform operationsand/or processes. Although embodiments of the disclosure are not limitedin this regard, the terms “plurality” and “a plurality” as used hereinmay include, for example, “multiple” or “two or more”. The terms“plurality” or “a plurality” may be used throughout the specification todescribe two or more components, devices, elements, units, parameters,or the like. Unless explicitly stated, the method embodiments describedherein are not constrained to a particular order or sequence.Additionally, some of the described method embodiments or elementsthereof can occur or be performed simultaneously, at the same point intime, or concurrently. Unless otherwise indicated, use of theconjunction “or” as used herein is to be understood as inclusive (any orall of the stated options).

The term “Contact Relationship Management (CRM)” as used herein refersto software systems that manage the interactions with the organization'scontacts.

The term “Short Message Service (SMS)” as used herein refers to a textmessaging service provided by most telephones, internet and mobilephones.

The term “Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)” as used herein refers to away to send messages that include multimedia content to and from amobile phone.

The term “preview queue” as used herein refers to records reviewed andpending delivery to the agent.

The term “Proactive OSH (Omni-Session Handling)” or “OSH” as used hereinrefers to user-initiated communication with a contact using a number ofdifferent communication channels such as voice, text, email, socialmedia, etc.

The term “digital preview” as used herein refers to a digital prelude tothe contact to be routed to the agent and allow for the same handlingoptions as other proposed digital interactions.

The term “contact” as used herein refers to an interaction with aconsumer of the contact center services. Typically references a specificindividual and includes a reference to the means of contacting theindividual (i.e., phone number, email address, chat, etc.).

The term “preview contact” as used herein refers to a proposedinteraction that allows the agent to review the purpose of the proposedinteraction and review referenced information to determine the best wayto proceed. For example, a digital preview of an interaction ispresented related to a proposed call with a consumer to pre-admit thecontact to the hospital. The agent is able to review the record which isassociated with the CRM and determine if the enrollment is still neededor if the interaction can be dismissed or rescheduled for another time.

The term “inbound” as used herein refers to interactions that areflowing in to the contact center.

The term “outbound” as used herein refers to interactions that areinitiated by the contact center and are reaching out to the desiredentity.

The term“priority routing” as used herein refers to the practice ofdefining the relative priority of all potential interactions and routingthose with the highest priority value first.

The term “media” as used herein refers to the channel of communicationinclusive of all current and potential communication channels, currentlycomprising voice, text, chat, messaging, fax and email.

The term “push model” as used herein refers to a model that determinesthe timing of a contact delivery and the appropriate agent to presentthe contact to for consideration i.e., digital preview. Thedetermination may be based on various factors such as availability ofthe agent, capacity of the agent, required agent skills and desiredagent capabilities. This technology exists as part of Automatic ContactDistributor (ACD) routing engine.

The term “pull model” as used herein refers to a model which allows anagent to review the list of available interactions for consideration andselect those that the agent wants to review further i.e., digitalpreview.

The term “preview experience” as used herein refers to a situation wherean agent reviews a proposed interaction and based on the presentedinformation decides if the interaction should be made, when theinteraction should be made and which communication channel to use tomake the contact.

The term “agent's personal preview queue” as used herein refers to aqueue which is comprised of records of interactions i.e., contact. Basedon user preferences, the records are “pushed” to the agent's personalpreview queue for review or the agent “pulls” the desired interactionsrecords for consideration.

The term “queue of proactive contacts” as used herein refers to a queuethat is managed by a list handling module. The queue of proactivecontacts is comprised of selected contact records which are passed tothe agent's personal preview queue.

The present disclosure provides a computerized-method and acomputerized-system which is a computer-based technology improvement ofhandling of components related to contacts i.e., interactions in acontact center. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,the improvement of handling components related to interactions, i.e., adigital preview of a contact as well as concurrently handling multiplesessions by an agent in a contact center, may be achieved by separatingthe preview experience which is the digital portion of the interactioni.e., digital preview of the contact, from the routed interactions withthe contacts, i.e., sessions handling of inbound and outboundinteractions, to the agent.

Moreover, by separating the preview experience which is the digitalportion of the interaction i.e., preview contact, from the routedinteractions with the contacts, the agent may prioritize the presentedrecords while handling other live interactions, possibly reviewing anddisposing of several potential contacts i.e., interactions until oneinteraction is identified as needing an outreach.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-method andcomputerized-system may improve utilization of the agent's capacity bylimiting the actual period of time that the agent is consideredunavailable for handling other interactions. Moreover, thecomputerized-method and computerized-system may improve the ability toroute the most important work to the agents and may leverage theavailable time of the agent to manage the queue of agent selectedengagements i.e., agent's personal preview queue.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-method andcomputerized-system may allow an agent to groom the agent's personalpreview queue while working on other active calls (i.e., inbound oroutbound) by reviewing the preview contact and deciding upon review ofthe presented digital preview of the interaction the next course ofaction, i.e., to accept the interaction or to reject it, regardless ofthe preconfigured communication type in the preview contacts. Whenaccepting the interaction, the priority may also be specified by theagent as part of the grooming of the personal preview queue.

FIG. 1 is a high-level flow diagram illustrating operations performed byan Omni Session Handling (OSH) engine, in accordance with someembodiments of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, an engine such as OSH engine 100 forproactive OSH may implement a method for maximizing the capacity of anagent in a contact center by retrieving one or more contacts, by aprocessor, from a Customer Relations Management (CRM) database based ona requirement for an outreach. The requirement for an outreach might berelated to a predefined amount of time before the current date or may berelated to a specified time since the contact accomplished the lastorder. A requirement for an outreach may be for example, a scheduledfollow up to a previous interaction, such as a web inquiry or a previousinteraction with the organization through its website, store front orcontact center. Another example for a requirement for an outreach may befor example, a notification of promotions or special offers of interest.Alternatively, a requirement for an outreach may be based on ademographic profile match.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may determine that anoutreach to the entity is desirable for some purpose. OSH engine 100 mayperform the determination based on a predetermined set of rules, machinelearning, artificial intelligence, or any combination thereof and latermay use the processor to allocate a queue of one or more interactionsout of the retrieved one or more interactions to an agent or to a teamof agents and utilize the memory to store it in the allocated queue ofone or more interactions such as queue of proactive contacts 105.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may allocate the queue ofone or more interactions based on correlation between preconfiguredskills and preferences of the agent or the team of agents and one ormore predefined criteria which are required to handle the interaction.

According to some embodiments, an agent in the contact center or anagent in a team of agents in the contact center, may receive from OSHengine 100, by the processor, a request for a contact reach out from thequeue of proactive contacts 105, while the agent is having an activeagent session 110. Meaning, this is done independently of, and inaddition to, all other interactions or processes that the agent isalready performing.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may concurrently deliver apreview contact with other active contacts thus, leaving the agentavailable for high priority interactions (via any media) during thepreview experience. That is, OSH engine 100 may present the agent or theagent in the team of agents with a digital preview of a contact 120 fromthe queue of one or more interactions such as the queue of proactivecontacts 105 for consideration via a display unit, i.e., previewexperience, while the agent is handling one or more interactions. HavingOSH engine 100 enable these concurrent interactions, allows the contactcenter to utilize agent resources more efficiently by not restrictingthe agent until the agent has chosen to interact with the previewedcontact. An entity is associated with the contact, the entity may be apotential customer, customer, business, congress, etc.

According to some embodiments, the OSH engine 100 may enable the digitalpreview of a contact 120 i.e., the preview experience, to stayconcurrent with other work that the agent has, allowing the agent toreview the information in the digital preview of a contact 120,in-between other interactions. The review of information in the digitalpreview by the agent, improves the utilization of the agent's capacitybecause it is limiting the actual period of time that the agent isconsidered unavailable for handling other interactions.

According to some embodiments, after the agent has reviewed the digitalpreview and once the agent has decided that an interaction is needed,the agent may choose to use another media besides a phone call toproactively interact with the contact that is in the digital preview ofcontact 120, for example via SMS, Instagram, Facebook (FB) Messenger,Email, MMS messages and the like. By doing so, OSH engine 100 eliminatesidle time that is associated with preview contacts that do not requirean interaction. Alternatively, according to some embodiments, OSH engine100 may choose the media i.e., communication type for the agent.

According to some embodiments, the agent may access other informationrelated to the contact to assess context, timing of an outreach,priority, etc. When the agent decides to accept the interaction, theagent may define a communication channel type and a priority 125. Thecustomer choice of communication channel type is known and stored in theCRM, and the preference of the customer may be used to determine thecommunication channel preferred by the agent. The agent may furtherdetermine based on interaction history and intuition which communicationchannel type will likely bring a successful interaction. Alternatively,according to some embodiments, the system, such as OSH engine 100following a defined business logic, may choose the next communicationchannel type to use.

According to some embodiments, once an interaction is identified asneeding an outreach, the live interaction may be queued for delivery andmay be properly aligned based on the relative priority. This is also anopportunity for the agent to identify the appropriate media i.e.,communication channel, to use for the interaction and it allows agentsto leverage all communication channels available to them and align withstated customer's preferences.

According to some embodiments, the agent may define via an input device(i) a communication type to perform the accepted interaction such asSMS, Instagram, Facebook (FB) Messenger, Email, and the like and (ii) apriority of the interaction relative to other pending interactions,i.e., immediate or delayed. Alternatively, the agent may define via theinput device a priority in the agent's personal preview queue ofinteractions or in the queue of the team of agents.

In a non-limiting example, when the agent decides to accept theinteraction and chooses a voice call as a communication channel, theinteraction may then become a queued voice-call and it is executed whenpriority dictates.

According to some embodiments, upon review of the digital preview of theinteraction, the agent may provide via an input device, a decision toOSH engine 100. The received decision may be to accept the interactionor to reject it.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may receive from the agentone or more notes 115 via an input device, to record: (i) one or moredecision reasoning; or (ii) review process; or (iii) observations, orany combination thereof while reviewing the digital preview of theinteraction. The agent may want to record the reasons for taking theaction. For example, after the agent reviews the interaction history andsees that the customer called in yesterday and made a payment, thiswould have resulted in being informed of the current promotions and theagent notes that another call today would be redundant and captures thereasons in the notes for future reference.

According to some embodiments, when the agent has accepted the requestfor reach out, OSH engine 100 may queue the interaction for delivery.The delivery of the interaction may be an outbound phone call, a windowfor composing an email, chat, or SMS text, a pre-packaged fax document,social messaging or other media content or connection type.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may perform a queueattempt 130 for the agent by retrieving an interaction from the agent'spersonal preview queue of the agent or from the queue of the team ofagents and may check the amount of concurrent sessions that the agent isconducting, via the received communication channel type. When the amountof concurrent sessions via the received communication channel type isless than a predefined amount of concurrent sessions, OSH engine 100 mayfurther launch the attempt 135 to establish a session with a contactthat is associated to the accepted interaction and the agent or an agentin the team of agents, via the received communication channel type andaccording to the received priority.

Alternatively, according to some embodiments, when the amount ofconcurrent sessions via the received communication channel type is equalor more than a predefined amount of concurrent sessions, OSH engine 100may delay the interaction for a specified amount of time.

According to some embodiments, depending on the media that is configuredin the requested interaction, the agent may not engage with the contactuntil a response is received from the entity being contacted. Forexample, if the chosen media has been configured to be an SMS textmessage, the agent may be presented with the interaction only once thecustomer responds to the text message that the OSH engine 100 has sent.Another media that the OSH engine 100 may initiate a reach out, but theagent may be engaged only once the contact has responded may be: chat,voice, or other media types.

According to some embodiments, once the interaction with the contact hasbeen successfully established 140, the agent may also react to thecustomer response that arrived using a different media type than the onethat has been chosen to initiate the interaction with and the OSH enginemay add it to the amount of concurrent sessions that the agent isconducting via the media type. For example, a customer may reply via SMS(“I can't talk right now. What's up?”) to the voice call request, andthe agent may then continue the engagement via SMS media. The OSH engine100 may consider SMS media in the total amount of concurrent sessionsthat the agent is conducting via SMS media.

According to some embodiments, if the contact attempt has beenunsuccessful at establishing the interaction (e.g., ringing phone, butwith no answer), the agent may choose via the input device to: (i)conclude the attempt by finalizing or rescheduling; (ii) another mediatype (if available) and queue another attempt. For example, a voice callattempt was not answered and agent desires to send an SMS message.Moreover, additional notes 115 may be added by the agent.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may delay the contactattempt, depending on the system and agent load limits. This may preventthe agent from receiving an excessive number of interactions to managein each communication channel type. User preferences determine thecapacity limits of each agent to handle multiple interactions in eachcommunication channel type and OSH engine 100 may calculate that theagent is operating at capacity at this particular moment. Based on thesecapacity limits, additional interaction opportunities in a communicationchannel type may be delayed or reassigned to honor these limits. Forexample. Tim, an agent in a call center has demonstrated that he canhandle 3 chats and one voice call at the same time—additionally he canactively review up to 2 preview interactions and one email for reply.Once Tim has reached these capacity limits, no more contacts will beoffered to him until he completes the ones assigned.

According to some embodiments, when OSH engine 100 receives from theagent a decision to reject the interaction, the rejection may be: (i) arequest from the agent to transfer the interaction to a queue ofinteractions of another agent or to a queue of another team of agents ora queue of a predefined criteria or any other queue of interactions;(ii) to reschedule the rejected interaction for a specified amount oftime or until a specified date and time and storing the interaction inthe database; or (iii) a finalize request from the agent which willprevent further actions.

According to some embodiments, OSH engine 100 may receive from the agenta request to transfer the interaction to a queue of interactions ofanother agent or to a queue of another team of agents or a queue of apredefined criteria or any other queue of interactions.

FIG. 2 is flow-chart depicting a computerized-method for maximizingcapacity of an agent in a contact center by the computerized-method 200,in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-method 200 (OSH engine100 in FIG. 1) for proactive OSH may implement a method for maximizingcapacity of an agent in a contact center. Operation 210 may compriseretrieving one or more interactions from a Customer Relations Management(CRM) database based on a requirement for an outreach. In a non-limitingexample, the retrieved interaction may be an outreach to a customer thatis more than 30 days late in making a payment and the retrievedinteraction has been identified by the CRM of the organization asneeding to be performed in order to bring the account current. Theretrieved interactions may be stored in a queue of proactive contacts,shown in FIG. 1 as 105 and in FIG. 3 as 345.

According to some embodiments, operation 220 may comprise allocating aqueue of one or more interactions out of the retrieved one or moreinteractions to an agent or to a team of agents. In a non-limitingexample, the retrieved interaction may be allocated to a queue of anagent or to a queue of a team of agents. Alternatively, a digitalpreview from the queue of proactive contacts may be presented to theagent to be later on stored on the agent's personal preview queue.

According to some embodiments, operation 230 may comprise presenting theagent or an agent in the team of agents with a digital preview of aninteraction from the queue of one or more interactions for considerationvia a display unit, while the agent is handling one or moreinteractions. Thus, separating the digital portion of the interactioni.e., preview contact, from the routed interactions with the contacts.In a non-limiting example, the retrieved interaction may be contacting acustomer that is more than 30 days late in making a payment. Theinformation may be presented to the agent as a digital preview while theagent is handling other live sessions such as a phone call, Email, chator the like. So, while the agent is waiting on hold for the customer onthe phone call to find a credit card, the agent is able to review theinformation regarding the retrieved interaction. The agent may alsoreview notes that documented previous attempts that were made and maysee two unsuccessfully attempted that were made on the customer's homephone. The agent may notice that the customer does not like being calledat work and has a mobile phone and a preapproval to contact on themobile using text messaging.

According to some embodiments, operation 240 may comprise receiving fromthe agent a decision upon review of the presented digital preview of theinteraction. The decision may be to accept the interaction or to rejectthe interaction. When the agent accepts the interaction, the agent mayspecify the media for the session and the priority of the interaction incomparison to other interactions in the agent's personal queue. In anon-limiting example, when the agent decides to accept the interactionthe agent may decide to communicate with the customer via SMS testmessage during office hours. Accordingly, the agent may prioritize theinteraction in the personal preview queue for delivery. When the timefor delivery of the interaction arrives, the computerized-method 200performs queue attempt 130 in FIG. 1 to the interaction. The agent maysend a text message to the customer about bringing the account current.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a system for OSH 300, in accordancewith some embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-system for OSH 300 forproactive OSH may include a processor such as processor 310, a memorysuch as memory 315, an output device 330, an input device 335 and acommunication circuitry and interface module 305 for wired and/orwireless communication with any other computerized device over acommunication network. The processor, e.g., processor 310 may includeone or more processing units, i.e., of one or more computers. Theprocessor may be configured to operate in accordance with programmedinstructions which are stored in the memory. Furthermore, the processormay be capable of executing the machine learning algorithm.

According to some embodiments, the processor e.g., processor 310 maycommunicate with an output device, e.g., output device 330. For example,the output device may include a computer monitor or screen. Theprocessor 310 may communicate with a screen of the output device 330 todisplay, for example, a digital preview. In another example, the outputdevice may include a printer, display panel, speaker, or another devicecapable of producing visible, audible, or tactile output.

According to some embodiments, the processor e.g., processor 310 maycommunicate with an input device, e.g., input device 335. For example,the input device may include one or more of a keyboard, keypad, orpointing device for enabling a user to inputting data or instructionsfor operation of the processor.

According to some embodiments, the memory 315 may include one or morevolatile or nonvolatile memory devices. The memory 315 may be utilizedto store, for example, programmed instructions for operation of theprocessor 310, data or parameters for use by the processor 310 duringoperation, or results of the operation of the processor 310. Forexample, the memory 315 may store interactions retrieved from the CRM inthe queue of proactive contacts 345 (also shown as 105 in FIG. 1).

According to some embodiments, the processor e.g., processor 310 maycommunicate with the memory 315. The memory may include one or morevolatile or nonvolatile memory devices. The memory may be utilized tostore, for example, programmed instructions for operation of theprocessor, data or parameters for use by the processor during operation,or results of operation of the processor. The memory may includedatabases CRM 340, a queue of proactive contacts 345 and agent'spersonal preview queue 350 stored thereon.

According to some embodiments, list handling module 320 in the systemfor OSH 300 may use the processor 310 and the memory 315 to retrieve oneor more interactions from a Customer Relations Management (CRM) databasesuch as database 340, to store the retrieved one or more interactions ina queue of proactive contacts such as the queue of proactive contacts345 (also shown as 105 in FIG. 1). The processor 310 and the memory 315may use Omni Session Handling module 325 to allocate a queue of one ormore interactions out of the retrieved one or more interactions to anagent or to a team of agents to be stored in an agent's personal previewqueue such as the agent's personal preview queue 350.

The memory may include a computer readable medium for storing programinstructions for operation of the processor. In this example, theprogrammed instructions may take the form of OSH engine, the form oflist handling application/module 320 which is running on the processor310.

According to some embodiments, the processor 310 and the memory 315 maybe further used to present the agent or an agent in the team of agentswith a digital preview of an interaction from the queue of one or moreinteractions for consideration via a display unit i.e., an output device330, while the agent is handling one or more interactions.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, information which isrelated to customers, i.e., contacts may be stored on CRM database suchas CRM 340 and it may be used by list handling module 320 to retrieveinteractions based on a requirement for an outreach. The retrievedinteractions may be stored on a queue of proactive contacts, such asqueue of proactive contacts 345.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, Omni Sessions Handling(OSH) module 325 (also shown in FIG. 1 as 100 and in FIG. 2 as 200) mayallocate a queue of one or more interactions out of the retrieved one ormore interactions to an agent or to a team of agents and store it in theagent's personal preview queue 350.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-system for OSH 300 mayprovide a preview experience to the agent by presenting the agent or theagent in the team of agents, a digital preview of an interaction 120 inFIG. 1 from the queue of one or more interactions i.e., the queue ofproactive contacts 345 (also shown as 105 in FIG. 1) for considerationvia a display unit, such as output device 330, while the agent ishandling one or more interactions.

According to some embodiments, the computerized-system for OSH 300 mayreceive from an agent via input device 335 a decision upon review of thepresented digital preview of the interaction. When the decision of theagent is to accept the interaction, the processor 310 may use OSH module325 to queue the interaction in the agent's personal preview queue 350.Thus, allowing the agent to groom its own personal preview queue 350 andperform all the operations of OSH module 100 detailed with respect toFIG. 1 and of computerized-method 200 detailed with respect to FIG. 2.

According to some embodiments, the processor 310 may use OSH module 325(also shown in FIG. 1 as 100 and in FIG. 2 as 200) to implement machinelearning, a predetermined set of rules, machine learning, artificialintelligence, or any combination thereof.

It should be understood with respect to any flowchart referenced hereinthat the division of the illustrated method into discrete operationsrepresented by blocks of the flowchart has been selected for convenienceand clarity only. Alternative division of the illustrated method intodiscrete operations is possible with equivalent results. Suchalternative division of the illustrated method into discrete operationsshould be understood as representing other embodiments of theillustrated method.

Similarly, it should be understood that, unless indicated otherwise, theillustrated order of execution of the operations represented by blocksof any flowchart referenced herein has been selected for convenience andclarity only. Operations of the illustrated method may be executed in analternative order, or concurrently, with equivalent results. Suchreordering of operations of the illustrated method should be understoodas representing other embodiments of the illustrated method.

Different embodiments are disclosed herein. Features of certainembodiments may be combined with features of other embodiments; thuscertain embodiments may be combinations of features of multipleembodiments. The foregoing description of the embodiments of thedisclosure has been presented for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit thedisclosure to the precise form disclosed. It should be appreciated bypersons skilled in the art that many modifications, variations,substitutions, changes, and equivalents are possible in light of theabove teaching. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appendedclaims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fallwithin the true spirit of the disclosure.

While certain features of the disclosure have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, andequivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is,therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended tocover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spiritof the disclosure.

What is claimed:
 1. A computerized-method for operating an Omni SessionHandling (OSH) engine for proactive OSH to determine that an outreach isrequired, according to one or more predefined requirements, to maximizecapacity of an agent in a contact center, the computerized-methodcomprising: retrieving two or more proactive interactions from aCustomer Relations Management (CRM) database based on the one or morepredefined requirements for an outreach to be stored in a queue ofproactive contacts; allocating a queue of two or more interactions fromthe queue of proactive contacts to an agent or to a team of agents;presenting the agent or an agent in the team of agents with a digitalpreview of two or more proactive interactions from the queue of two ormore proactive interactions for consideration, via a display unit, whilethe agent is handling one or more interactions; and receiving from theagent a decision upon review of the presented digital preview of the twoor more interactions, wherein the received decision is to accept one ormore proactive interactions from the presented digital preview of thetwo or more interactions or to reject thereof, and wherein at least onecontact is associated to the proactive interactions.
 2. Thecomputerized-method of claim 1, wherein the allocating is based on atleast one of: predetermined set of rules, machine learning, artificialintelligence, or any combination thereof.
 3. The computerized-method ofclaim 1, wherein the allocating of the queue of two or more interactionsis based on correlation between preconfigured skills and preferences ofthe agent or the team of agents and one or more predefined criteriawhich are required to handle an interaction.
 4. The computerized-methodof claim 1, wherein the computerized-method further comprising,receiving one or more notes from the agent to record: (i) one or moredecision reasoning; or (ii) review process; or (iii) observations, orany combination thereof.
 5. The computerized-method of claim 1, whereinthe computerized-method further comprising receiving from the agent: (i)a communication channel type to perform the accepted interaction; and(ii) a priority relative to other pending interactions to determine apriority in a personal queue of the agent or in a queue of a team ofagents.
 6. The computerized-method of claim 5, wherein the communicationchannel type is selected from: an outbound phone call, a window forcomposing an email, a chat, an SMS text message, a pre-packaged faxdocument, a social messaging or any other media content or connectiontype.
 7. The computerized-method of claim 5, wherein thecomputerized-method further comprising retrieving an interaction fromthe personal queue of the agent or in a queue of a team of agents andchecking the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type.
 8. The computerized-method of claim 7,wherein when the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type is less than a predefined amount ofconcurrent sessions, the computerized-method further comprisingconducting an attempt to establish a session with a contact that isassociated to an accepted proactive interaction and the agent or anagent in the team of agents, via the received communication channel typeand according to the received priority.
 9. The computerized-method ofclaim 8, wherein when the amount of concurrent sessions via the receivedcommunication channel type is equal or more than a predefined amount ofconcurrent sessions, the computerized-method further comprising delayingthe accepted proactive interaction for a specified amount of time. 10.The computerized-method of claim 9, wherein when the contact respondsvia a communication channel type other than the received communicationchannel type, the computerized-method further comprising enabling thesession via the other communication channel type.
 11. Thecomputerized-method of claim 9, the computerized-method furthercomprising engaging the agent with the contact only when a response isreceived from the contact.
 12. The computerized-method of claim 1,wherein the computerized-method further comprising receiving a requestfrom the agent to transfer the one or more proactive interactions fromthe presented digital preview of the two or more interactions to a queueof interactions of another agent or to a queue of another team of agentsor a queue of a predefined criteria or any other queue of interactions.13. The computerized-method of claim 1, wherein the computerized-methodfurther comprising receiving a request from the agent to reschedulerejected one or more proactive interactions from the presented digitalpreview of the two or more interactions for a specified amount of timeor until a specified date and time and storing the rejected one or moreproactive interactions from the presented digital preview of the two ormore interactions in the database.
 14. The computerized-method of claim1, wherein the computerized-method further comprising receiving afinalize request from the agent which will prevent further actions. 15.The computerized-method of claim 14, wherein the computerized-methodfurther comprising conducting an attempt to establish a session with acontact that is associated to the rescheduled rejected one or moreproactive interactions from the presented digital preview of the two ormore interactions at the specified date and time, and the agent or anagent in the team of agents.
 16. The computerized-method of claim 15,when the attempt is unsuccessful at establishing a session with thecontact that is associated to the interaction, the computerized-methodfurther comprising, receiving from the agent a request to: (i)reschedule the interaction or to finalize which will prevent furtheractions; (ii) alter the communication channel type; (iii) queue theinteraction in the personal queue of the agent or in the queue of theteam of agents.
 17. The computerized-method of claim 15, when theattempt is unsuccessful at establishing a session with the contact thatis associated to the interaction, the computerized-method furthercomprising, receiving from the agent one or more notes related to theunsuccessful attempt.
 18. A computerized-system for operating an OmniSession Handling (OSH) engine for proactive OSH to determine that anoutreach is required, according to one or more predefined requirements,to maximize capacity of an agent in a contact center, thecomputerized-system comprising: a display unit; and a processorconfigured to operate an Omni Session Handling (OSH) engine forproactive OSH to determine that an outreach is required, according toone or more predefined requirements; said OSH engine is configured to:retrieve two or more proactive interactions from a Customer RelationsManagement (CRM) database based on the one or more predefinedrequirements for an outreach to be stored in a queue of proactivecontacts; allocate a queue of two or more interactions from the queue ofproactive contacts to an agent or to a team of agents; present the agentor an agent in the team of agents with a digital preview of two or moreproactive interactions from the queue of two or more proactiveinteractions for consideration via a display unit, while the agent ishandling one or more interactions; receive from the agent a decisionupon review of the presented digital preview of the two or moreinteractions, wherein the received decision is to accept one or moreproactive interactions from the presented digital preview of the two ormore interactions or to reject thereof, and wherein at least one contactis associated to the interactions; and a memory to store the queue ofproactive contacts and the queue of two or more interactions.